AuthorTopic: Missouri Death Penalty News (Read 12406 times)

Some southwest Missouri lawmakers say if the man Springfield police allege kidnapped, raped and sodomized a 7-year-old girl on Sunday is convicted, the jury should have the option to sentence him to death.

Jeffery Allen Dickson, 36, was charged Tuesday with felony counts of child kidnapping, forcible rape and 2 counts of forcible sodomy after he allegedly choked and assaulted the girl, then set a Springfield house on fire.

"It is truly a case of taking advantage of someone who is truly innocent in the worst possible way," said Rep. Shane Schoeller, R-Willard.

Schoeller said juries in cases of suspected child rapists such as Dickson should be able to "take the absolute harshest sentence possible, and that is death."

Sen. Jack Goodman, R-Mount Vernon, filed legislation in February that would increase the punishment to life without parole or death for the forcible rape or sodomy of a child under the age of 12. A hearing was held on the legislation Monday in the Senate's judiciary committee.

"Just about every bad element that could happen, (happened) in that case," Goodman said Thursday of the Dickson case.

Schoeller said allowing the death penalty law would send a message to pedophiles that "you could lose your life" for raping a child.

Goodman and Schoeller are among 28 lawmakers who recently signed a legal brief Gov. Matt Blunt filed in a U.S. Supreme Court case urging the high court to uphold a Louisiana law allowing the death penalty for child rapists.

Schoeller said if the justices uphold the Louisiana law, it would likely spark states like Missouri to adopt similar laws.

In 2006, Blunt signed "Jessica's Law," legislation modeled after a Florida law that mandates life sentences with a minimum of 30 years for serious sex offenses committed against young children.

In his State of the State Address earlier this year, Blunt said sex crimes against children are "unspeakably evil" and called for a new law allowing the death penalty to be administered.

"Any criminal that rapes a Missouri child deserves the most serious punishment we can deliver," Blunt said during the Jan. 15 address to lawmakers. "I urge you to make the rape of a Missouri child punishable by death."

While Dickson has no previous sex crime convictions, electronic court records show he has numerous previous convictions for felonies including assault, forgery, stealing a vehicle and driving while intoxicated.

As Goodman and Blunt push expanding the death penalty, there is a House bill that would put a three-year moratorium on executing inmates on death row while a study of the practice is conducted by a bipartisan commission.

Springfield Reps. Sara Lampe and Charlie Norr have co-signed support for the moratorium, but both said Thursday they're in favor of the death penalty for child rapists.

"I would not be opposed to the death penalty for child molesters," said Lampe, D-Springfield.

Norr, also a Democrat, said he's in favor of the death penalty for rapists, but said he'd prefer to see more money put into mental health and preventative treatment for sexual predators.

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Gov. Matt Blunt and Attorney General Jay Nixon on Wednesday pushed for the death penalty to start up again in Missouri, now that the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the use of lethal injection executions.

The High Court, by a 7-2 vote, turned back a constitutional challenge to Kentucky's three-drug procedure that sedates, paralyzes and kills inmates. Similar methods are used by about three dozen states, including Missouri.

Blunt said in a statement that the decision "affirms our state's right to impose the death penalty by lethal injection when the judicial process deems it an appropriate and just punishment for the crime." He asked the Missouri Supreme Court "to immediately issue execution orders for all pending cases."

Nixon also issued a statement saying the ruling "should allow for lethal injection to again be carried out in Missouri."

"We should not forget how many families of murder victims in Missouri have waited 15 years or more for justice in their cases and for sentences to be carried out," Nixon's statement said.

Of Missouri's 46 death row inmates, more than half have been there for more than a decade.

The argument against the three-drug protocol is that if the initial anesthetic does not take hold, the other two drugs can cause excruciating pain. One of those drugs, a paralytic, would render the prisoner unable to express his discomfort.

Like Kentucky's, Missouri's method of lethal injection has faced a court challenge. Condemned murderer Michael Taylor has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to consider whether the lethal drug cocktail is cruel and unusual punishment. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals previously ruled against Taylor.

Taylor's attorney, Ginger Anders, said his case "involves very different facts" from those in the Kentucky case. She said Taylor alleges "evidence of serious deficiencies in Missouri's implementation of its execution protocol."

Marlin Gray was the last Missouri inmate put to death, in October 2005.

In Missouri, the attorney general requests an execution date, which must be set by the state Supreme Court. The request usually comes after all appeals are exhausted.

Last June, Nixon asked the court to set execution dates for Taylor and nine other men. The court has not done so. Justices have not commented on why.

Beth Riggert, public information officer for the Missouri Supreme Court, declined to speculate on if or when the court would set execution dates now that the U.S. Supreme Court has decided the Kentucky case.

"Every case has to be looked at individually," she said.

All current death row inmates in Missouri are men, and all are convicted murderers. They are housed at the Potosi Correctional Center, but the executions take place at the state prison in Bonne Terre, about 60 miles southwest of St. Louis.

Most executions in Missouri are over in just a few minutes. One notable exception occurred in 1995, when it took condemned killer Emmitt Foster 30 minutes to die. Authorities said a tight leather strap holding Foster down cut off the flow of lethal drugs.

The coroner involved in the case said at the time that Foster didn't suffer because his breathing stopped with the first injection. But others believe his death was protracted and painful.

Missouri Governor Matt Blunt is calling on the state's supreme court to issue execution orders for all pending death penalty cases.

It comes after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the state's Lethal Injection Law Wednesday.

Blunt is a strong supporter of capital punishment and he says he's making sure death row inmates are put to death is an effective detterent to crime.-------------------------------------------------------------------Get on the posse Missouri!!!

ST. LOUIS -- One day after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the use of lethal injection, Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon on Thursday asked the state Supreme Court to set execution dates for four death row inmates.

Missouri is among about three dozen states that use a three-drug execution method that opponents said violated the constitutional guarantee against cruel and unusual punishment. But the High Court disagreed in a 7-2 decision on Wednesday.

There was no immediate word on if or when the state Supreme Court would act on Nixon's request. Spokeswoman Beth Riggert said all four defendants have an opportunity to file responses. "Beyond that, we consider them on a case-by-case basis," she said.

Christeson killed Susan Brouk and her two children in Maries County in 1998. Link killed 11-year-old Elissa Self of St. Louis in 1991. Ringo killed Joanna Baysinger and Dennis Poyser in Boone County in 1998. Skillicorn killed Richard Drummond in Lafayette County in 1994.

Last June, Nixon sought execution dates for 10 other condemned killers: Michael Taylor, Roderick Nunley, Richard Clay, Reginald Clemons, Jeffrey Ferguson, Andrew Lyons, William Rousan, Russell Bucklew, John Winfield and John Middleton. The Supreme Court has not set execution dates for any of those men.

All told, 46 men are on death row in Missouri.

Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1989 Missouri has traditionally been among the top states in the number of annual executions. But as the courts have weighed the merits of lethal injection, the state hasn't performed an execution since Marlin Gray was put to death in October 2005.

Inmates in several states continue to have cases pending before the U.S. Supreme Court, though it is doubtful the court will hear most of them. One of the cases is out of Missouri and was filed on behalf of Taylor, convicted of abducting, raping and killing a 15-year-old Kansas City girl.

In both the Kentucky case heard by the U.S. Supreme Court and the Missouri case, the debate centered on how three drugs are administered in succession. If the initial anesthetic does not take hold, a third drug that stops the heart can cause excruciating pain, it has been argued. But the inmate would not be able to communicate the pain because of a second drug that paralyzes him.

Taylor's attorney, Ginger Anders, said Taylor's case is different because it alleges problems not only in the three-drug protocol but in how Missouri administers the drugs.

Most executions in Missouri are over in just a few minutes. One exception occurred in 1995, when it took condemned killer Emmitt Foster 30 minutes to die. Authorities said a tight leather strap holding Foster down cut off the flow of lethal drugs.

The coroner involved in the case said at the time that Foster didn't suffer because his breathing stopped with the first injection. But others believe his death was protracted and painful.

-------------------------------------------------------------------Looks like 14 will be up from Missouri. Hopefully the state Supremes will set dates quickly.

Gov. Matt Blunt will hold a press conference Monday morning in Springfield to discuss death penalty legislation that the news release says is “needed to protect Missouri’s children.”

Blunt has called on the Missouri General Assembly to send him legislation that adds the sentence of death to forcible rape and forcible sodomy when the victim is younger than 12 years old. He also filed a brief with the U.S Supreme Court today in support of a Louisiana law allowing the death penalty for a person convicted of child rape.

The news conference will be at 9:30 a.m. at the Greene County Courthouse, 940 Boonville Ave.------------------------------------------------------------------I like this governor more and more every day.

SPRINGFIELD -- Gov. Matt Blunt renewed his call for the death penalty to include those convicted of sex crimes against children under age 12. Blunt made his comments at a news conference in Springfield on Monday morning.

Five states have already enacted this option for people who sexually abuse children. Four other states are considering it. Blunt believes Missouri should join them.

Last week, Attorney General Jay Nixon requested the Missouri Supreme Court to schedule executions for 14 prisoners on death row. Those legal motions came after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the method used by most states, including Missouri, that use lethal injections for executions.----

Edited news release from the governor’s office:

SPRINGFIELD -- Gov. Matt Blunt today renewed his call for the death penalty to be included in state law as punishment for the worst sexual predators, building on his commitment to protecting our children from harm.

“Protecting our children is of paramount importance to Missouri families, and I have called for, fought for, and signed some of the toughest laws in the nation relating to violent child predators,” Gov. Blunt said. “We have made significant improvements, but we can do even more. The prospect of the ultimate punishment of death will serve as an effective deterrent against reprehensible and cruel assaults on children.”

Blunt calls on Missouri ’s elected representatives to send him legislation that would let a prosecutor seek the death penalty in cases of forcible rape and forcible sodomy when the victim is younger than 12 years old. The governor noted a recent child rape case in Springfield where a 36-year-old man was charged with kidnapping and forcibly raping and sodomizing a 7-year-old girl and leaving her for dead in a burning house. Blunt strongly believes death should be an optional penalty for child rape and that it will help prevent heinous crimes like this from happening again.

Blunt and 28 members of the Missouri General Assembly filed an amici curiae (“friends of the court”) brief in March, asking the U.S. Supreme Court to clarify previous rulings that the Eighth Amendment does not prohibit the death penalty for child rapists. The brief also argues that the court should not preclude a national debate on this issue and allow states to form a consensus.

Louisiana , Montana , Oklahoma , South Carolina and Texas have laws that allow capital punishment for a violent offender convicted of child rape. Alabama , Colorado , Mississippi and Tennessee also are considering similar laws.

Blunt’s strong leadership has ensured Missouri has one of the toughest versions of Jessica’s Law in the nation. The legislation mandates a life prison sentence with a minimum of 30 years for serious sexual crimes committed against young children and calls for certain sex offenders to be monitored their entire lives. The governor also led the successful effort to expand the state’s sexual offender registry and add new tools to make it a more powerful resource for parents and law enforcement officials.

Blunt created a state program to support Multi-jurisdictional Internet Cyber Crimes Task Forces and a related grant program to help protect children from online predators.

Blunt also supports legislation to strengthen Missouri ’s sex offender registry even further by requiring convicted sex offenders to submit their e-mail addresses, Instant Messaging names, and any other electronic identifiers to the sex offender registry. The information would then be available to help parents and law enforcement keep our children safe from sexual predators. Registered sex offenders would only be allowed to use email addresses or other Internet based identifiers that they provide to the sex offender registry.

JEFFERSON CITY -- A Senate committee passed a bill Monday granting judges and juries the power to sentence someone to death for forcibly raping or sodomizing a child younger than 12.

The senators briefly considered two separate amendments -- one requiring DNA evidence and the other making the death penalty only applicable for prior sexual offenders -- but decided against creating a litmus test for a death sentence.

The Senate Judiciary and Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence passed the bill by a 6-1 vote, with Democratic Sen. Jolie Justus of Jackson County casting the lone vote of opposition.

Gov. Matt Blunt, who stumped for the legislation earlier Monday in Springfield, called a violent sex crime against a child one of "the worst crimes that any criminal can commit."

"I urge the General Assembly to send me legislation making the rape of a young child punishable by death," Blunt said on the south steps of the Greene County Historic Courthouse. "Those evil predators who rob our children of their youth and innocence deserve the most serious punishment that we can possibly deliver."

Proponents say chances of the bill getting passed this legislative session are slim, but they're pushing it forward to the full Senate to get a debate going in before October, when the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule on a similar law already on the books in Louisiana.

In March, Blunt and 28 Republican lawmakers in Missouri filed a "friend of the court" brief with the U.S. Supreme Court, urging justices to uphold the law.

Sen. Matt Bartle, chairman of the state Senate judiciary panel, said if the Louisiana law is upheld, legislatures across the country will have a "green light" to pass similar laws.

Bartle said the public wants predators who commit especially heinous crimes against vulnerable children to pay the ultimate price.

"It's the rape of the prepubescent child that society is saying 'we want the death penalty for that,'" said Bartle, a Republican from Lee's Summit.

The Senate bill, introduced by Sen. Jack Goodman, R- Mount Vernon, would add the death penalty as an option, but also allow a sentence of life without parole for such convicts.

Criminals convicted of raping or sodomizing a child are currently required to spend a minimum 30 years in prison, after the General Assembly toughened penalties for those crimes in 2006.

Even that sentence is too lenient for certain crimes, Blunt said Monday, mentioning the case of Jeffery Dickson, the 36-year-old Springfield man accused of raping and sodomizing a seven-year-old girl before leaving her for dead in a burning house earlier this month.

ControversyThe Senate committee's passage of the bill Monday night came at a time of controversy regarding the death penalty itself.

Some lawmakers want to temporarily halt executions, which had already been on hold in Missouri until Wednesday, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Kentucky's lethal injection process does not constitute cruel and unusual punishment.

The Missouri Supreme Court has not yet set any execution dates in light of that ruling, but a House bill would put a three-year moratorium on executing inmates on death row while a study of the practice is conducted by a bipartisan commission.

Given the polarizing nature of the death penalty debate, Blunt conceded the Senate bill might face hurdles making it to his desk.

"It's certainly not a sure thing," he said. "If it doesn't happen this year, there will be yet another horrific crime where we all wonder why the death penalty's not available.

"I guarantee it."

Goodman -- who visited Springfield with Blunt earlier the day -- proposed an amendment to the legislation Monday night that would only allow the death penalty to be administered to prior sexual offenders. Bartle suggested requiring DNA evidence for the death penalty.

Goodman said he proposed the substitute as a way to make the bill more viable for passage on the Senate and House floor. The prior conviction requirement was voted down after Goodman said he'd rather stick with the bill's original language.

Sen. Chris Koster, D-Harrisonville, argued against making DNA evidence or a prior sexual offense a prerequisite for lethal injection.

The former Cass County prosecutor cited a case he worked many years ago in which a man was drugging young girls and then video taping himself raping and performing oral sex on them in his home.

"We had the tapes of him raping that he kept as trophies," said Koster, a former Republican running for attorney general this year.

Koster said the man pleaded guilty. And even though police had no DNA evidence, Koster said the case merited the death penalty.

Goodman, a Lawrence County attorney, agreed a DNA requirement is unnecessary.

"I don't think a prosecutor today would ever ask for the death penalty unless we had DNA evidence involved," he said. "I don't think a jury would ever give a death penalty. I don't think a judge would give a death penalty without that evidence."

Bartle noted the Louisiana case pending before the Supreme Court was decided without DNA evidence and the victim gave conflicting statements.

The legislation, which passed the House on April 2, would grant child victims or witnesses to crimes the right to testify when they're most alert; have a person present to provide emotional support; hold a comfort item such as a stuffed animal; the right to understand the questions they're being asked and the right to testify without being badgered by an attorney.

The Missouri Bar opposes the legislation. But many of the rules -- including modified oaths for children -- are already in case law in the Eastern District of the Federal Court of Appeals. The west side of the state does not have similar case law, Dixon said.

Given the death penalty debate, Bartle said he had "grave constitutional concerns" about the additional rights for a child victim, especially in cases of forcible sexual abuse.

Barbara Brown, executive director of the Child Advocacy Center in Springfield, testified in favor of Dixon's legislation. She spoke about a Greene County case in which a girl was testifying against her grandfather who she alleged had been raping her for years.

Because the defense attorneys subpoenaed the girl's parents, they were not allowed to be in the courtroom to comfort her during the emotional testimony, Brown said, noting the case was later dropped.

"When children lie, they almost always lie to cover up that it happened because they almost always love their accuser, or their abuser," she said.

When Bartle asked Brown whether she thinks the death penalty should be applied in cases of child rape, she replied: "I am not for that."

The study shows a person facing a capital charge in outstate Missouri is much more likely to be executed than a similar defendant in urban areas.

It also finds that a white capital defendant is twice as likely to actually be executed as an African American defendant.

The study finds life or death in Missouri can largely be an issue of where the trial's held.

After looking at hundreds of murder cases in Missouri the law professors found white defendants in rural Missouri have around twice the chance of actually being executed as African American defendants in urban counties:

In fact the disparity among various counties in Missouri is so great that the study calls for the state legislature to halt executions until uniform statewide policies can be established.

Right now each of Missouri’s 115 elected county prosecutors makes the decision about whether or not to seek death:

The study's authors note that since the Supreme Court reinstituted the death penalty 32 years ago Missouri has had the fourth largest number of executions in the country.

They say that may have a lot to do with the fact that Missouri has more locally elected prosecutors than anyplace except Texas and Virginia.

St. Louis County’s bob McCullough is one of those 115 elected prosecutors.

So what about the study's proposal for a death penalty moratorium?

St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch says…“I think it's a terrible idea. And I’ll tell you why. Because it has nothing to do with the perceived inequities of the death penalty. It has everything to do with the anti-death penalty bent of the professors responsible for this study, and others who call for a moratorium.”

Study co-author Stephen Thaman says he does oppose the death penalty but says the issue is why it isn't applied equally everywhere across the state:

And even given the study the SLU law professors are unlikely to get their death penalty moratorium.-------------------------------------------------------------------Here we go with another study that says whites in Missouri are TWICE as likely as blacks to be executed. I will be bet even all the anti groups will run away FAST from this study. They don't want to here that minorities might be getting a break on something. Think you'll see this on the NAACP website. That would be a NO. .Crank it up Missouri!!!

JEFFERSON CITY — The House voted today to permit death sentences for those convicted of rape or forcible sodomy if a victim is less than 12 years old.

Lawmakers added the provision to a larger bill by voice vote after permitting little debate. Before the legislative session started, Gov. Matt Blunt called for a law allowing executions in those cases.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in April on a Louisiana law allowing the death penalty for child rapists. But the court has not yet ruled.

Republican House Speaker Pro Tem Bryan Pratt, of Blue Springs, says juries should be allowed to decide if child rapists deserve a death sentence.

But Democrats argue it could imperil children by giving child rapists no incentive not to kill their victims.-------------------------------------------------------------------Missouri Rocks!!!!

Despite the medical profession’s ethical guidelines against it, an anesthesiologist has joined the team that will carry out executions in Missouri.

The doctor's presence on the team was revealed recently in a federal court case brought by several death row inmates concerning the qualifications and training of Missouri’s execution team members.

With all the pieces of its execution team apparently in place, the state is now ready after a hiatus of 2˝ years to once again execute condemned prisoners whenever the Missouri Supreme Court issues the order.

The Missouri Department of Corrections will not reveal the doctor's name or specific role on the team.

The doctor's identity also will not be provided to the attorneys representing the death row inmates in the federal case, although they will be given information about licensure and qualifications.

Citing the ongoing litigation, attorneys for the death row inmates said they could not comment.

Department of Corrections officials also declined to comment, except to say that the team's doctor and 2 nurses "will perform the duties assigned to them in the DOC's lethal injection protocol."

Those duties include preparing the chemicals, inserting intravenous lines, monitoring the prisoner and supervising the injection of chemicals by corrections employees.

All of those actions violate the American Medical Association's policy against physician participation in executions. The American Society of Anesthesiologists has adopted the AMA's stance.

"It is a fundamental and unwavering principle that anesthesiologists, consistent with their ethical mandates, cannot use their art and skill to participate in an execution," the society stated in a brief it filed last year in the U.S. Supreme Court.

The AMA first adopted its ethical stance in 1980. Its current policy states:

"A physician, as a member of a profession dedicated to preserving life when there is hope of doing so, should not be a participant in a legally authorized execution."

But neither professional group has an official policy on capital punishment in general. The AMA policy states: "An individual's opinion on capital punishment is the personal moral decision of the individual."

And neither group has the power to discipline a doctor who does not comply with the ethics policy.

Physician participation in executions long has been controversial, with some arguing that the best way to ensure that inmates are put to death humanely is to have a highly-trained professional involved.

"The good news is that if the anesthesiologist is qualified … such involvement should heighten the likelihood that lethal injections will be carried out humanely," said death penalty expert Deborah Denno, a professor at the Fordham University School of Law. "On the other hand, the anesthesiologist who has volunteered in Missouri is violating the ethical prohibitions of his or her profession, and attorneys should be entitled to investigate why such a physician would be willing to do that."

The issue drew attention to Missouri in 2006 when the surgeon who previously oversaw the state's executions testified in another court case that he was dyslexic and sometimes transposed numbers.

Identified in court as John Doe I, the doctor also admitted using only half the prescribed dose of anesthesia during the state's last execution in October 2005 without notifying corrections officials.

This is the EXACTLY the reason that the cruel and inhumane argrument about LI will NOT wash. It's not about that at all

Stop Missouri's Renegade Anesthesiologist From Executing Someone!

The State of Missouri has obtained a Board Certified anesthesiologist to implement its next execution of a human being, in gross violation of his most fundamental human rights under international law.

We are in the process of obtaining the name of this doctor. Upon its receipt, we will file an emergency Complaint with the American Board of Anesthesiology, demanding the immediate suspension and permanent revocation of this doctor's Board Certification in order to prevent the execution. According to Section 5.02 (Revocation of Certification) of the Board's Booklet of Information (March 2008): "The Board shall be the sole judge of whether or not the evidence or information before it is sufficient to require or permit revocation of any certificate issued by the Board, and the decision of the Board shall be final."

This doctor has willfully defied and maliciously violated regulations mandated by the American Medical Association, by the American Society of Anesthesiologists, and this doctor's own Hippocratic Oath. This doctor is neither fit nor competent to practice medicine. We fully expect the American Board of Anesthesiology to grant our request in order to prevent this execution of their fellow human being by their fellow anesthesiologist.

For the American Board of Anesthesiology to permit a Board Certified colleague to implement the execution of their fellow human being would render them all complicit in this renegade doctor's legal, ethical, and human rights violations.

(source: Francis A. Boyle, Professor of Law----Chair, Stop Capital Punishment Now!)------------------------------------------------------------------Here in NC the argrument is the role the doctor plays and that's why we're on hold. Let's look at Missouri. They have someone undoubtedly more than qualified and now the anti-DP movement says ohhhhhhh we can't have that either. Geez give me a break.. Comments?

As I have said before: Doctors shall not participate in executions. By doing so they betray all main ethical principles associated with their profession. A doctor's job is to do what's in the interest of his patient. Unless the prisoner is a volunteer it's not in his interest to get killed. Whether the prisoner deserves to live or die or whether he is a monster or a scumbag is irrelevant to this issue. It's basically the same situation as when a patient arrives to the ER unit stabbed or wounded by a gun shot. The doctors shall not ask what kind of person this is, they shall do their job which is to help the patient to stay alive.

I can also understand well why medical organisations are so strongly opposed to this for other reasons also. To be a doctor is to be a part of an international community. Doctors travel all over the world, for education, for medical congresses, for work, for research. Unlike many of you who have a tendency to say "We're on our own ground and don't care a shit about what the rest of the world think" this people neither can nor will hide from the international society. And they know that they will be greatly ashamed there if their societies allowed doctors to participate. Especially in Europe I think, with its dark past with Mengele and other figures. But also in South America f.e. who have their own dark past with doctors who assisted during torture back in the 70:ies and 80:ies.

I realise that this cause problems when it comes to carrying out executions in a safe way. But to be honest - that is not my as an anti or any doctor's problem.

Ok Henrik, Let's say all of what you said is true and I buy that argrument. I don't think I was trying to make that point though. IFand I say IF there is a doctor/anestheiologist that desires to participate in this, whose business is it of the anti death penalty community to try to stop him and try to destroy him by finding out his identity. It's really not my business, your business or anyone elses except the prison department to who this person is. Here in my state, it's the complete opposite. We're held up because of the role of doctors and executions can not continue until that role is defined. But what it is Henrik YOU know it and I know it. It's any little technicality that the scumyers and the scumpal organizations can do to try to slow up the fast building machine. That machine is getting ready to crank it up. I kind of take a different road from you though. If a medical person desires to participate in executions wouldn't that be that much greater percentage of something not going wrong?